Time flew. It had been two weeks since Lin Sheng cut himself off from the outside, doing this cultivation. But someone from the Sanctum was keeping in touch with his family, so they were informed of what Lin Sheng was doing.

It sounded as if Lin Sheng was busy with one thing one day and doing another thing the next day. But all these were just covers that Lin Sheng had planned in advance to keep his family from worrying about him. The real him was hibernating in the Holy Spirit Palace.

Two weeks were neither long nor short, but it was not clear how long Lin Sheng, the King of the Holy Spirits was going to take for his cultivation.

For the average person, the smokescreen might work. However, the powerful beings were too smart to fall for that; they had an exceptionally keen eye and perceptibility. It was impossible to feign the aura of powerful beings.

Hence, the Dark Pantheon and Astral Mere had gotten wind of Lin Sheng’s disappearance from the very beginning.

The other doomsday cults, which were suppressed when Lin Sheng was around, were taking this opportunity to spread their teachings. All reckless forces thought this was an opportunity.

Shermanton and Henricqal, the two highly developed holy cities, had long been coveted by enemies. Some forces were salivating over them.

…

In the third defensive city of Miga, a convoy of petrol-burning motorcycles was running through the mist of the Black Tide.

The riders were wrapped in clothes, wearing goggles that fully protected their eyes. There was no way to tell their gender and age. Everyone was covered in thick layers of protective gear.

The convoy had traveled from one defensive city to another defensive city. They were a convoy of soul hunters, putting their lives on the line to deliver messages between defensive cities.

As all satellite communications were down, the only way to exchange information with one another was through the human messenger.

At the front of the convoy, a small built member was whispering to the convoy leader.

“Every time I go to DC3 (Defensive City 3), I always have that bad feeling. The place is dead. Everyone has that hopeless gaze in their eyes; they look terrifying.”

“That makes them stand out,” the convoy leader said nonchalantly.

“Stand out? If not for the city lord governed like a cock crowing on his own dunghill and screwed things up, DC3 would not have degraded to this stage. I can only describe it in one word: horrible!” The small built convoy member sighed.

Despite being covered in a mask, the voice was undoubtedly female.

“It’s none of our business. We just do our job,” the convoy leader said.

“What about DC2? Miga had integrated all information with us. There are only three DCs, other than the unique holy cities discovered not long ago. I think DC2 is going to be the most solid one in the future, not even the holy cities can match.”

“How do you know the situation there when you haven’t been to the holy cities?” another convoy member chimed in.

“You don’t have to be there to know. I have heard about it,” the girl retorted. “The biggest function of a DC is to protect everyone from corrosion and harm. DC2 is the only city controlled by soul hunters like us. It is still the best in terms of the recruitment of members and the provision of welfare to the people.

“Perhaps one day, when we feel like retiring, we can settle down in DC2. Do you know what the other convoys call the city?”

“What is it?”

“The Defensive City of Wind.”

“What is that?”

“The city lord of DC2 is a gentleman going by the nickname ‘Wind.’ He is also one of the strongest soul hunters since the beginning,” the girl explained.

“We’d better shut up and hurry up because we will soon run out of uncontaminated water.”

After running through the mist of the Black Tide for a few days, everyone needed to take some rest and ate the food and drank the water with an extremely low level of contamination. Otherwise, even soul hunters would be still susceptible to the corrosion of the black mist. If that happened, they would die a lot quicker than ordinary people.

Everyone fell silent again after the warning from the convoy leader. Staying silent was the basic SOP (Standard Operating Protocol) to travel in the black mist.

That was because many monsters prey using their auditory senses. Many more monsters emitted little sound when they moved. Without staying quiet and keeping themselves alert, they could become lunch for the monsters, so no one dared to talk for long.

Still traveling through the mist, the convoy passed through streets and remnants of buildings, the ruins of a human settlement. Buildings had collapsed and some still half stood; none of them was in one piece.

The convoy slowly ran straight through the ruins and toward the destination ahead.

On one side of the convoy, in the dark corner filled with the mist of the Black Tide,

A figure, clad in a gray robe with a three-star pattern, was wrapped up in some secret black fabric, revealing only a pair of bloodshot brown eyes, staring as the motorcycle convoy disappeared into the distance. Standing in the darkness, the figure looked like a cheetah waiting for its prey, extremely calm and quiet.

“Defensive cities… soul hunters? The gray-robed figure snickered indistinctly.

“Go kill them all!”

As the figure spoke, the shadow at the back stretched and spiraled into a dozen strands of black silk before, flying toward the convoy.

“I pity them…” The gray-robed man turned around and walked deeper into the darkness without bothering to check the outcome.

This was the Black Tide territory. He could not stay here for too long. He needed to leave as soon as he had done his things.

“A bunch of trash who try to challenge the original order will eventually become the dust of history—vanish for good!”

After letting out another sigh, the gray-robed man could vaguely hear the horrified scream coming from the far distance.

“Only dark energy is the way. Half-human, half-monster trash are only fit to become tools.”

…

Inside DC1, everything and everyone went in an orderly manner. People were selling their merchandise in the city squares and in the streets. They put up a sign that told buyers their barter terms.

Ansel had just returned from outside the city. As a member of the soul hunters, his biggest hobby was to find the stuff he liked in this place.

Living on the edge made the soul hunters think nothing of parting with their money. After all, no one knew if he or she would die in their next mission. So they enjoyed it while they still could. They would not think about tomorrow but live in the present.

That had also caused some people among the soul hunters to become a little too relaxed about their moral codes. They claimed to be the followers of the deity of love and always organized some hookup parties.